


Part of the Journey is the End, But the End is Just Beginning

by athletiger



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1872 (Marvel), Angst with a Happy Ending, Endgame References, M/M, Mainly MCU, Marvel 616 References, Multiverse, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, not permanent death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:44:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athletiger/pseuds/athletiger
Summary: After the Snap, the last person Tony expected to appear in his workshop was someone claiming to be from another universe. Honestly, Tony probably wouldn't even have believed him, except for the fact that it was his own face staring back at him, knocking him prone onto the couch.Anthony holds up the Mind Stone so that its yellow glow shines magnificently on them. This familiar ethereal object, the source of his impending doom; even now, Tony feels its power growing. “This is it.” Anthony's voice cracks.Stop, Tony wants to say.Please don’t do this.The end is just the beginning.





	Part of the Journey is the End, But the End is Just Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KakushiMiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KakushiMiko/gifts).



> I was blessed with the lovely kimiko this year for my first RBB. After two false starts, I came up with this: a post-Endgame AU where Steve dies instead of Tony, and yet another multi-verse fic because they’re aren’t enough of them. I have to thank many people who put up with my whining and my anxiety of writing this story: MCU Discord and the 616 Discord; Serinah for the constant encouragement; EmmettM for reading it; gisela, meek-bookworm, and summerpipedream for looking over the story and correcting my dumb grammatical errors. I also have summer to thank for my summary. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all.

Revelation

Tony’s body feels like lead – it had since the last three jumps. As the Stones gradually gain back their power, they have also been draining him of his own life force. Now, all that is left is merely a string of energy within his core that is rapidly fading away.

If not for Anthony, Tony would have sprawled out onto the ground in a mess of limbs. Instead Tony lays on his couch, facing his counterpart from another universe as he sits across from him in Tony’s ratty chair.

The journey began here; it ends here as well. In the darkened corner, out of his line of sight, DUM-E and U are still and quiet, and FRIDAY’s processes are disabled thanks to Anthony’s meddling. The sky outside looks like blood, the setting sun casting the room a reddish glow that signaled imminent danger.

Tony wants to move and stop this from happening. He strains against the paralysis, willing himself to move, but his muscles refuse to listen. Being down here, frozen not by choice, reminds him of a similar situation that has happened a long time ago, with Obi. Last time, he lived out of the sheer determination of knowing that if he didn’t stop his former godfather, greed and destruction would ensue. The country he loved, the people too (to be more specific, Rhodey) would perish under Obi’s hand. He would never let that happen.

Once he defeated the man he used to call godfather, the collective black marks in his book from that day showed him how much he had to atone for; he is still paying the price for his ignorance – perhaps now more than ever. This time, he faces imminent death all over again without any ability to change his destiny. He can only draw shallow breaths, and his chest stutters at the thought of his final moments.

Anthony holds up the Mind Stone so that its yellow glow shines magnificently on them. This ethereal object is the source of his impending doom; even now, Tony feels its power growing. “This is it.” Anthony’s voice cracks.

_ Stop _ , Tony wants to say.  _ Please don’t do this _ , but his tongue is frozen in his mouth, and all he can do is listen. He’s not done paying the price of his transgressions yet. He will never be. Alas, he can only lay there as the other man rants, unshed tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. Anthony’s voice is thick with emotion.

“Look at us. Look at Earth-616 or the Battleworld. We think we always know best in protecting the universe, but in every dimension, in every universe, all we do is destroy and make everything worse. Iron Man was created to protect the world from harm. We did it, but at the same time we also created collateral damage too. Did we really wash the blood off our hands?

“We drove away the best thing that could have ever happened to us, and ultimately we are left to pick up the pieces. Between the two of us, Cap would always be the better person.”

Tony wants to deny it vehemently, but really, they know each other too well.

As Iron Man, he had always believed that he would do good for the sake of protecting Earth.

He destroyed it, just like what Anthony said. They are one and the same. He feels the fight leave him in a shallow stream, leaving merely defeat in his wake. This time, it is not like he has anything to live for, per se. Perhaps dying is a kindness to Earth. It is a self-sacrifice so that Earth can be better off. Perhaps for the first time, he feels relieved that it  _ is _ happening, that wiping his name out of existence would justify the pain and sorrow he had caused.

“We aren’t the best people to fix Earth. We lie, we hurt, we torture so that our people can live another day. The price of it is too damn high. I thought I could live with my decision, but really, we’re nothing without Steve by our side.”

There is regret on his counterpart’s face, and Tony understands: he regrets bringing other people into this. It doesn’t matter that he’s just another version of himself, but Anthony is resolved. “None of the choices we make is worth losing Steve,” Anthony says quietly, looking down at the Stone. “He’s worth more than a million of us. That’s why it’s better to leave Earth alone, let Steve protect it because he’s the best at it. That would best atone for the things we’ve done over the years.”

Anthony finally stands, towering over Tony’s prone form. The Mind Stone hovers above, accenting the sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry that you had to get involved,” he says.

Finally,  _ finally _ , Tony’s tongue unglues itself, and he gets out, “It doesn’t have to be –“

Anthony shakes his head, cutting off Tony’s words before he can fully express them. “It has to be this way. It’s the only way for us to repent.” Anthony’s hand closes around the stone. “It can be our last apology for all of the mistakes we’ve made.

“We don’t deserve forgiveness.”

Reality

The decision of a single man can change everything.

The disc is still streaked with the blood of the final moments of his life. The shield had come out of the war bruised, battered, and stained with the lives of the people it had killed: the person who wielded that shield had not. Now it leans against a post at the base of Tony’s desk as a poor homage to the man who should be here and alive.

Just a few inches away, Tony sits still with his legs crossed in his chair, looking blankly at the direction of the damned shield. His mind, once so bright and vibrant with constant ideas and energy, is dull and quiet. The workshop too is just as silent as its master, an event that has never occurred before.

Before, at least one thing had made noise, whether it be DUM-E rolling around on his wheels, or the server fans quietly running in the background, or the loud blasts of ACDC playing overhead. Now nothing moves because they also grieve for the one who had been lost.

Tony can’t bear seeing the shield stained with so much blood. Steve’s blood. Yet, at the same time, Tony can’t bear washing it away because it’s the final remaining connection of him. He looks just slightly past it, desperately trying to ignore reality:  _ he’s here, he’s safe at home _ , he tries to convince himself.

It doesn’t work – the shield is still the reason for Steve’s death. It protected him when he needed it; it killed him too. Tony stifles a sob.

He should move on, just like how the rest of the world did. Bury the dead, grieve, and carry out the rest of their lives with Steve’s death as an unfortunate blip. But even a year later, Tony is stuck in this perpetual state of guilt and sorrow. That day, when there were up against Thanos, it could have been him who died.

It  _ should _ have been him who died that day – he had been marked for death. Thanos saw to that. For Earth, he would have willingly given up his life. After all the grief, that should have been his ultimate sacrifice so that his friends – Pepper, Rhodey, the kids he had sworn to protect, the Avengers (his entire  _ family _ ) – could live.

He doesn’t want to move on. He wants Steve. First, because Captain America was the rightful leader of the Avengers. He was the heart and soul of the team, the one that bound the people together. He was the soldier and the comrade for so many others.

Second, he was the source of Tony’s love, the man who made Tony a better person. Now Tony is barely living – he doesn’t feel like his life is worth the amount Steve believed it was. Yet, he still lives. The memories consume him, preventing him from moving on, and he hugs his knees tighter, biting his lips until it bleeds, soothing him as his mind takes him away, back to that place, like a tidal wave.

\- -

_ “Tony Stark. You are back.” _

_ “I am.” Tony walks forward, gravel crunching underfoot. He walks past the cross where Thanos has hung his armor in a mock approximation of a scarecrow. Whether it is to instill fear or otherwise, Tony doesn’t know, but he ignores the “warning” all the same. He’s here for a reason. They all are. Despite the fact that the rest of the team is behind him, finally united against a common cause, he feels so very alone, pinned under the gaze of the monster who destroyed half of everything he had fought for. _

_ Thanos is just up ahead, sitting in the throne he has built in the new world. It looks like heaven, if heaven has a price of blood that has to be paid. Morning dew latches onto the swaying golden grass, dancing under the eternal morning sun, and in the distance are emerald rolling hills promising calm and peace. _

_ “Quite a place you have here,” Tony remarks, eyes snapping back to the threat in front of him. “It’s a shame that it comes with the price of war and death.” _

_ “With the intention of peace, I assure you,” Thanos replies. He’s fully comfortable in his throne, looking at them like they are merely flies. It’s clear that he doesn’t feel threatened by their presence, even when they’re all geared up for war against him. _

_ Perhaps, to him, they are pesky flies, a mere inconvenience. _

_ “I don’t think so,” Steve snarls, stepping forward. “You took our friends and family by killing them – they were good people. You call this peace?” _

_ “Sacrifices have to be made. I assure you, I empathize with your losses. I have lost a lot myself. But the truth is, I am saving the universe from the same destruction as Titan.” _

_ Tony shakes his head. “You’re playing god, but you’re not one. Your hands are as bloody as ours, but you know what? We’ve learned and we’ve adapted and we’ve evolved to become better. Learning from the past and all that.” _

_ “And yet your kind still fights.” Thanos leans forward and props his elbow against the armrest. The Stones on the Infinity Gauntlet glitter in the light, goading them with the fact that they had failed the first time. _

_ Tony says, “We’re not perfect, but we do try to realize our mistakes and learn from it. But you have taken away lives of good people, innocent ones.” Tony thinks of Peter then, dissolving in his arms, and it’s a close thing that Tony doesn’t break rank and lunge for Thanos then. _

_ “I’m sure you understand the sacrifice: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Thanos says. _

_ “That may be true, but one person being judge, jury, and executioner isn’t how we do things,” Tony retorts. “For us, family comes first. We live together, and we die together.” Now, as one, the Avengers stand side by side, fighting the good fight, the final battle, together for the good of the universe. “You know why we’re here.” _

_ Thanos sighs. “You lost the last time we fought,” he says. “We are at peace. I have ensured that.” _

_ “No. You’re the one at peace, and it’s a delusional thought at best. We’re here to avenge the fallen. This time, we’re stronger.” _

_ “So be it.” Thanos stands. “If I need to defeat all of you to maintain the balance of the universe, it will be done.” _

\- -

Tony’s mind is filled with guilt. Although his eyes are dry, his mind is heavy because it never was supposed to be Steve. Frustration and anger within him well up inside him, and he directs the feelings at the mental image of his fallen comrade. But when he breathes and exhales, the feelings dissipate as quickly as they had come on, leaving sadness and regret in their wake.

He’s supposed to finish the latest project for SI - Pepper asked for it during the last board meeting, but ever since Steve was gone, he just couldn’t conjure up the energy to create. It’s so pathetic, not being able to move on, and Pepper had seen the way Tony fell apart when he came home with the shield clutched in his hand. His heart had died with Steve; he had no more room to love her romantically anymore.

He had let her go, called off the wedding, and hid in his workshop until Pepper, as CEO of Stark Industries, whipped him back to a modicum of a functional human being. He’s still depressed, but he has to move on, he  _ must. _

For just one moment more, however, he wallows in his misery.

He can’t move on even as the world around him continues to move. He builds new equipment, makes appearances when Pepper forces him to, sleeps when his body gives out on him, but he can’t stop thinking about how his heart had been marked for death and yet he still lives. Nightmares of that day cling to him, except they aren’t just nightmares. They are memories that haunt him night and day, screaming at him, questioning why he’s the one still alive.

\- -

_ They fight the good fight. Working together as a team motivates him to fight harder than ever. They’re outnumbered, like they always are, but it’s reminiscent of the old days. For just a little time, a smile weaves onto his face because he missed this, trusting his teammates to watch his six. _

_ Lightning rains down upon them when Thor lifts his axe in the air, and it electrocutes the creatures that threaten to overwhelm them. With most of them gone, all that are left are the strongest fighters that the Avengers face, and it leaves Tony to finally face the mad Titan. _

_ “Tony Stark, you don’t give up, yet you are the most human out of all of them.” Thanos sidesteps Tony’s repulsor attack before he lifts his gauntleted hand to throw Tony aside like a piece of trash. “When will you give up? I know that you are the most intelligent – you must know that there is no way you can defeat me.” _

_ “I’m not weak, if that’s what you’re saying,” Tony replies. He picks himself up and winces. His left arm is limp by his side, and pain radiates from it. He doesn’t know how many more hits it can take, but he’s accepted the fact that he will give up his whole life to bring the people he cares about back. So he ignores the numbness and tilts his wrist so that he flies towards Thanos. His strikes with his right hand, aiming his fist towards Thanos’s face, and it surprisingly hits its target. Thanos’s face whips to the side. _

_ “That’s for Peter.” _

_ Nebula screams, and she slices Thanos’s arm. “That’s for Gamora.” _

_ A roundhouse kick, a duck so that Nebula can attack her father head on, a repulsor blast all follow in quick succession. _

_ It all stops mid-air. “You think your meager weapons can defeat me?” Thanos asks calmly, and it infuriates Tony more that the Titan is so…apathetic about it. But he can’t move – Thanos has done something to him. “I restore balance, and you cannot defeat me while I wield the Infinity Stones.” _

_ Time slows down dramatically, and all around him the battle ensues. Lights, weapons, bodies move like a slow-motion film, but Thanos continue to walk in real time. “The Sorcerer spared your life the last time we have met. You don’t have him to save your life this time.” _

_ “I don’t need to live,” Tony spits back. “But I promised myself that Earth would be protected. That was – is – who I am as an Avenger. Since that didn’t happen, I chose the next best thing: to fight so that we can protect the world from those like you in the future.” _

_ Rocks lifts into the air and morphs into spears. “Then it is truly unfortunate that your mission did not succeed,” Thanos says regretfully, “and your death is all for naught.” He sends the weapons hurtling towards him. _

It hasn’t yet, but it might be, and soon _ , Tony thinks to himself, looking at the projectiles coming towards him. Tony manages to dodge most of the missiles, but one catches him in the stomach and makes him stumble backwards until he is able to find his footing again. In that lapse of concentration, Thanos disappears from his line of sight. _

_ It’s a costly mistake because he forgets for a moment that Thanos has the ability to tear the fabric of space and time at will. _

_ “Tony!” _

_ Tony turns around, slowly…much too slowly for the kill shot that hurtles towards him. _

_ And then he’s there, standing between them as a human shield. The tip of the makeshift spear protrudes from his back, but still he stands there, both hands clinging onto the gauntlet. _

_ The shield is in Thanos’s hand. _

_ “You have wasted your life for his,” Thanos tells Steve. _

_ “He’s mine. He’s Earth’s Best Defender, and he’s the only one who can defeat you.” Steve coughs, and his body shakes from the action. Blood drips from the open wound, and despite the dismal realization that this is Steve’s final stand, a smile worms onto Tony’s face. _

_ Thanos doesn’t pull away from Steve’s hold, and there is something akin to respect on his face. “How noble of you to do so. Yet, you have not accomplished what you have come for – “ _

_ “On the contrary, I think I have,” Steve says, and his knees crumble under him as his blood drips to the ground. “The Soul Stone needs a sacrifice, doesn’t it?” _

_ “No,” Tony whispers, stepping forward. He says louder, “No, Steve. Please don’t do this.” _

_ Steve glances back. There is hidden pain in those tear-streaked eyes, but he also manages a small smile. “I’m sorry Tony.” _

_ Tony crumbles to his knees at the same time Steve slumps to the side, tossed away like carcass. His head. Oh god. Tony didn’t even know that the vibranium shield was sharp enough to decapitate a head, but Thanos did it. He sliced Steve’s head off of his shoulders with Steve’s own shield, no less. Tears drip down Tony’s face, and he wants to scream at the unfairness of it all. _

_ Steve shouldn’t have had to throw his life away for Tony. _

_ When Tony unclenches his hand, the Soul Stone glitters in his palm. It’s not fair that he is the one who finally takes the rest of the stones away from Thanos with the help of his teammates, presenting a united force against the enemy. It’s not fair that he’s the one that holds the gauntlet in his hands with all the power in the world. He’s not the worthy one to wish the rest of the people back into existence to how the universe was before the Snap and wish the Stones out of existence. _

_ And most of all, it’s not fair that in light of the entire undoing, Steve is one who doesn’t come out of this ordeal alive. _

\- -

Steve wanted him to live, but he’s not the right person to make wrong things right.

-

Tony finally looks up when the workshop darkens, illuminated in warning red, and alarms blare out. “Intruder alert,” FRIDAY says, and the workshop doors look shut, as per protocol.

“Where?” Tony asks, and he double taps at his wrist to release the nanobots. They flow down to his hand and form a glove. “FRIDAY?”

“Sir –“ she starts before she garbles out nonsense and falls silent.

Tony is alarmed, and he jolts out of his seat, looking around blindly as he prepares for danger. “FRIDAY?”

“Earth-199999.”

Tony brings his hand up to attack the shadowed figure by the corner of the workshop, but the blast is blocked and diffused until there is barely a wisp left. “Manual override: bad wolf, delta-alpha-three-three-two,” the voice says. It sounds similar to the robotic voice of Iron Man. The red light dies down, and the alarms is silenced.

It’s easy to ask, “Who are you?” but the question never leaves his lips. He isn’t a genius for nothing, and the line of his disbelief is near nonexistent. If he is able to travel into space and experience the vast universe on a spaceship, he can very well imagine that there is another Tony Stark in another universe. And indeed, when the shadowed figure steps out of the blackness, the Iron Man armor the other figure wears looks similar to the ones he owns. The colors itself, however, are muted and dark, and what little light remains in the room is absorbed by the matted armor unlike his own armor’s bright reflections.

Interestingly enough, the helmets  _ melts _ into the figure’s skin, revealing the face of another Tony Stark. One of his eyes is covered by a patch, and there is a scar that extends past the cover up to his forehead and down to the corner of his lip. His remaining blue eye is sadder, colder, hurt, and broken. He looks as if he has gone to hell and stayed there, with the physical and psychological scars shown plain on his face.

“Which universe?” Tony asks instead, tilting his gauntleted hand down towards the floor. He doesn’t relax, not completely, but he doesn’t feel particularly threatened by his counterpart either. 

Might as well call him Anthony.

“Does it really matter?” Anthony counters. The Iron Man armor melts away further, leaving a hybrid of flesh and armor in its wake. “We’re all cut out from the same stone, no matter what universe we are.”

Tony doesn’t know what to say to that, so he says instead, “You’re not supposed to be here, I’m pretty sure. Butterfly effect and all that, throwing the balance of the universe out of whack. I can help you get home – “

“No,” Anthony cuts in, and the armor covers his body again. It looks sentient, crawling out from within his skin to settle over him like a second skin. When he replies, his voice takes on the metallic voice so distinctive of Iron Man, “I’m right where I want to be.”

He lifts his hand and fires a concussive blast towards Tony’s head. Tony only has time to cross his arms in an “x” to protect his face. He is not prepared for a fight against himself. The blast blows him off his feet. His head knocks against a shelf, and he falls to his knees as his projects, stacked haphazardly on the shelves, fall like hail and knocks him unconscious.

Power

_ StarkBIOS…System Configurations…File data verification complete. _

Waking up is a struggle. Very rarely does his brain do a full reboot; while he sleeps, a trickle of memory still keeps his brain from shutting down completely. This time, however, it takes a good while before the start button is pressed to bring his brain whirring back to life. He presses “enter” to continue the start-up up process. Black screen, then the load. The Stark loading page runs longer than it should; it feels as if his mind is moving through jello. Tony struggles to pry open his eyes, the concentration of doing that one simple action taking more energy than it should. The heavy weight of his body feels wrong.

He may think like a computer, but he is still painfully human, and his mind processes and remembers slowly.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,”

Oh, that’s right. Tony pries his eyes open, shaking off the last vestiges of sleepiness.

He can’t help but reply sardonically, “Kidnapping? You know as well as I do that that never works out well seeing that you are, well, me.” He observes the man in front of him, now that the Iron Man armor has been completely stashed away. Under the fluorescent light his counterpart looks pale and gaunt, his lone eye slightly sunken with the lack of sleep. The clothes he wears are all black and fit him snugly, leaving nothing to the imagination.

His counterpart sneers slightly, scar twisting on his face. He replies, “Which also means that I know all of your contingency plans and disabled your three trackers, all the live feeds, and redirected the Avengers resources elsewhere. They’ll figure out the sabotage soon enough, but by that time, we would be long gone. Not that it matters that you know; I just wanted to prove a point to you. Really, it’s a blessing and a curse to be the same person.”

The blasé attitude of his counterpart towards kidnapping him unsettles Tony slightly because he knows that their intellects are unmatched, and Tony is at the disadvantage because the other him has no qualms in hurting others. Still, he can try to throw off his game while trying to figure out a plan for escape. “What do you want? If you are me, then you have everything. Where are we anyway?”

Anthony shrugs. “Out and about. Could be on the same plane; could be in another universe. I’m disinclined to tell you. Anyway, to answer your question, I don’t have everything. Tell me, what happened to your Steve?”

Tony stills and carefully schools his face. He knows that it doesn’t work, not with the fact that his counterpart is as sharp as he is, but he still makes a valiant effort to keep from telling too much information. They’re on opposite sides after all, as predator and prey. But the probing question pulls on the barely healed scab, leaving it an open wound again. “He…died.”

He feels the piercing stare as his counterpart moves closer, leans down into his personal space. He keeps eye contact with Anthony, but it’s a close thing that he doesn’t break away first. After a few moments, Anthony asks, “When?” He turns around for a moment, and Tony tests his bonds. He’s bound tightly, as he expects, although he had hoped that his counterpart made an error.

“Not…long.” A stony silence fills the air. Tony wants to squirm in his seat – he’s not good at waiting, but it would also feel like he will have lost an unspoken game between them. Tony bites his lips and stops himself from speaking.

“What do you want?” he finally asks when the stony silence goes on for an abnormally long time.

His counterpart turns around, an eyebrow raised. “Waiting for you to break. Seems like I have more patience than you do.”

“We’re similar, not exactly the same,” Tony retorts. “Of course there are differences between us. I don’t know how much, but I know that I would never kidnap someone.”

“Big talk, me,” Anthony responds. He leans forward. “I’m here for the Stones.”

“The Infinity Stones?” Tony laughs. “I don’t have them and I don’t know where they are.”

Anthony gives him a small smile. “Even if you don’t know where they are, I bet you can find them.”

He’s curious, but he also knows their destructive powers. They all know because half of all life perished because of them. If he has any say in it, he would never see them again; he doesn’t wish to see them because their powers are too much for mere mortals to handle. “You know I’d never let you anywhere near them, right? Even if you do find them.”

“ _ Au contraire _ , I don’t think you have a choice.”

Tony bursts out, “Steve sacrificed his own life so that I could get the Soul Stone and have a fighting chance against Thanos. He died so that other people could live. Why are you trying to reverse that?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m going to hold Pepper Potts and James Rhodes hostage. My reasons are my own, and I don’t trust you.”

“Trust? Are you really speaking about trust?” Tony eyes Anthony with a frown on his face. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Anthony’s gaze stays steady, and Tony tugs on his bonds, straining against them. “I would do more than just dare. I’d kill them too if I’m provoked.”

Tony stares, stilling for a moment. He’s flabbergasted and shocked. “You don’t have the guts to harm your friends.”

“I would.”

“I see it in your eyes. They’re your friends too.” He doesn’t believe for one second that Anthony would hurt his friends, even if  _ this _ Rhodey and Pepper are not his counterpart’s friends.

“There are a lot of things that I wouldn’t otherwise do,” Anthony replied. “Killing former friends is one of them when it comes down to the wire. It’s easier if I have your cooperation, but I don’t  _ need _ it. Tell me, where are the Stones?”

Tony snarls, blood boiling. “What the fuck are you getting at? The Stones wiped out half of the universe, and you want to bring them back? I never knew that an Anthony Edwards Stark would fall so far to use something so destructive.”

Anthony laughed mockingly before he slammed his hands down on the outer edges of the seat where Tony’s legs were not currently occupied. “You don’t know anything about me. I would do so much more to get what I want.”

“You’re sick,” Tony spat. He’s fueled by hate, angry that his counterpart would stoop that low despite knowing the Stones’ power. “I’m sure Pepper and Rhodey are your friends too in your universe.”

“And Peter was my kid,” Anthony asserts. “Guess what. They’re all dead.” He straightens up, and his face falls. “Peter, Pepper, Rhodey, Steve. They’re all gone.”

“We fell apart,” Anthony says quietly. “Thanos picked us off one by one. And it’s my fault. I was the one who ripped apart the team.”

It’s like Tony. This is his story. How far, then, would he go to reach his own goal when everything is gone? Would he have been Anthony if  _ everything _ was gone?

“It’s nothing to do with Thanos,” Anthony says. “It has everything to do with us. If there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that if someone places too much power into any Tony Stark’s hands, we will lose all the things we care about. I can’t take that anymore. Our lives are less valuable than Steve’s. Any of them, all of them.”

“So you’re reversing the sacrifice that Steve made for me?”

“I’m bringing him back,” Anthony confirms. “I’m bringing them all back. But it’s more than that.”

From his pocket, he pulls out something. A red stone glimmers in his palm when he opens it. “I found this – or maybe it has chosen me. Either way, I’m in possession of the Reality Stone, and it has shown me all the different realities we have lived. It’s…gruesome to say the least, looking in the eyes of all the other Tony Starks. It showed me all of the realities, all the has been and all the paths we fail to choose.”

“Thing is, we all have made the wrong choice, and Steve has suffered for it. So I’m here and I’m using you to collect the stones and rebalance the world the way it should be. The Reality Stone has chosen me; the Soul Stone has chosen you, so it won’t be too hard to find its frequency, and then I should be able to find the other Stones.”

“This is pathetic,” Tony spits out. It’s insane that he wants to do this, remove a billion Tony Starks from all universes. “Do you know what you’re doing? You’re taking away all the lives of  _ us _ that could have saved Steve! It’s a choice that we made and must live with, including mine.”

His counterpart places pads against his temples. “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. You haven’t seen all the realities that I have, and trust me, you don’t want to see the choices we’ve made in all the alternate dimensions. But you will. I will bring everyone back, and it will be at the cost of my own.”

“It’s better this way,” Anthony says. “If I can bring everyone back, the world would be made right again. I want Rhodey and Pepper and Peter to have a chance of living again. I’m sure you want Steve to come back.”

Tony hesitates, and Anthony continues pressing, “Out there, there are a million lives lost because of us, and your refusal will keep the dead in their graves. Tell me you don’t want Steve to come back.”

“I do,” Tony says softly. “But -”

“If there’s a chance to get him back, don’t you want to?”

It’s a difficult decision, but phrased like that, he knew that there is only one decision: the right one.

“I want him back.” It’s true, and if there is a modicum of hope that he can get Steve back into his life without paying the price of something so drastic as what happened during the Snap, he wants it. He can’t believe he’s helping Anthony, but he wants the same thing as what  _ he _ wants.

Anthony nodded, checking the controls that connected to the pads on his head. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find the Stones,” he says absently, turning away from Tony and fiddling with the controls. “This won’t hurt.”

\- -

_ “Tony.” _

_ Tony inhales sharply. His chest is filled with emotions, and his eyes burn when he hears the voice. He looks at Steve, so beautiful in his Cap uniform. It’s the prelude to their mission, most likely their final one together, the one that will save or forever break the universe. He’s missed him; he wishes he has more time with him. He can’t help but reach, hand outstretched between them, hoping, just hoping that everything will be alright. _

_ Steve meets him halfway, interlacing their fingers together. Tony gives him a watery smile. “I’m scared,” he quietly admits, squeezing their interlaced hands. He knows he has to do this because he’s an Avenger. They are avenging their friends, their family. But it still doesn’t change the fact that this is the second time he is going up against the foe that had defeated him the first time, and he’s terrified because there’s going to be a high chance of someone, maybe more than one, not making it out alive. _

_ Between Steve and Tony, Tony wishes it would be him who will die if it comes down to it. Steve deserves more, a lot more, out of this world, and he would be a good leader to a new generation of Avengers. It’s not an if, because Tony doesn’t want to dwell on the fact that they might lose. It’s going to be a when. _

_ Steve is there, closer now, their chests pressed together. “We have nothing more to lose,” Steve replies. But no, Tony has nothing and everything to lose. Nothing – it’s Peter that he has to avenge and try to bring back among everyone else; everything – that’s Steve who he still utterly loves deep within his heart and wants to have a life and future with. Still, the warmth emitting from his body and the hand cradling the back of his head provides some comfort, shielding him for a moment, protecting him from the negative thoughts that seep into his mind. _

_ “I –“ Tony starts, but then he swallows. He can’t tell him  _ I love you  _ because it’s not fair. He doesn’t want to burden Steve with the knowledge that he loves him, he’s loved him for a long time. _

_ Steve pulls back slightly, looking down at him. “Yeah?” he prods inquiringly. _

_ But Tony shakes his head. He can’t tell him. They have to make it out (if he makes it out alive) before he dares to say those three words. “Never mind. Let’s focus on the mission instead.” _

_ Steve looks as if he wants to protest, but he doesn’t. He’s been trained to focus on the task at hand instead. It’s hard to suppress the feeling, but Tony is relieved when Steve’s eyes sharpen. “Yeah, let’s do that.” _

_ - _

_ He wishes he told him. _

_ With the stones in his hand, he wishes them back to life. When the blood still stains the ground in rivulets from the final battle, Tony feels the pull of energy from his core feeding into the gauntlet. It’s a lot more energy than he can expend, but he pushes through his exhaustion, feeding more and more into the Stones. He falls to his knees, and sweat beads down his face, fighting his own body so that he can finish what he has come for. The blood on the shield sits in front of him, and he can’t let it down. A touch on his right shoulder, and Tony looks up to see Nebula staring encouragingly at him, giving him some needed energy so that he can make rights to the universe. Then he feels another hand on his left shoulder, and it’s Natasha. He’s grateful for the support, for the extra energy, helping him pull through and finish this. Everyone who died during the Snap, everyone who died after the Snap reforms back to existence. But it hurts to know that the one he wants most is no longer here. _

_ One by one the rest of the team shares the burden of energy that courses through him, and he succeeds what they came to do. _

_ Then, when the final tendrils of energy fade away, he wishes. He wishes to never again see the Stones while he lives, and one by one they wink out of existence. The Mind Stone goes first, then Time, Space, Power, Reality, and finally the Soul Stone. In their wake they leave an empty, yawning hole – there is no relief, just a sense of apathy. _

_ He can’t think, because if he does, he going to crumple to the ground and grieve for the one he has lost. _

_ “Let’s go home,” he says numbly, and with the way the cotton fills his ears, it sounds as if he is far away. He stands up, nearly staggers again as he picks up the bloody shield in his hand. Blood rolls off of it…Steve’s blood, dripping down, down, down, until it patters to the ground and intermingles with Thanos’s. _

_ The war may have been won, but Tony is still lost. _

\- -

It feels like a string is pulled taut within him, stretching and stretching until he feels as if he is about to snap. It’s hard to breathe through the pain, and his mind is in agony as he  _ feels _ the stones calling out to him. The strain is nearly too much to bear, and his chest aches at the lack of air within his lungs. He wants to scream, but he can’t, not with the way that he’s spread so thinly, like the Stones are pulling him apart. But until his counterpart stops, he is still, forced to take the pain.

(Anthony lied; it hurts, it really does, but he can’t do anything but take it.)

Soul

In a perfect world, he’s living a life with Tony by his side, in his bed, staring at the way the sun shines through the window and kisses the sleep-mussed hair of the man he loves. The man beside him is still breathing softly and evenly in sleep, and although the duvet covers his body, Steve knows that underneath he’s stark naked.

Although he can’t see them at the moment, he also knows that Tony holds the marks of his ownership: hickeys cover his body where Steve sucked marks down his spine, there are bruises on his hips where Steve had pressed his fingers last night, and he can see remnants of dried come on his neck where Steve hadn’t completely cleaned Tony off after their night of passionate lovemaking.

Tony is filthy, yet Steve’s cock gives an interested twitch when he continues staring at the beautiful, olive-toned man in front of him, Tony’s mouth slightly open and his eyes gently closed.

“I can feel you staring at me, Steve,” Tony says gruffly, eyes still shut. “You’re distracting me from my beauty sleep.”

“Sorry, love,” Steve replies. A grin graces his face. He can’t help it: he’s too beautiful not to stare at. “It’s just...you look absolutely gorgeous.”

Tony wrinkles his nose, and then he finally opens his eyes, warm and espresso-brown, shining and beautiful under those sweeping eyelashes. He looks back at Steve, and his lips twitch up, soft and loving and perfect; Steve’s smile widens helplessly.

“Hi,” Steve says - that’s the only thing he can think up to say to him because he’s too caught up staring at the way Tony arches his back and stretches, shaking off the final vestiges of sleep. That, and, “I love you.”

Because his heart swells with love when he sees him beside his side. Here, there is no war that has separated them and hurt him in all the ways only this man could – out there, beyond the shut doors, he knows that his family is outside: Bucky, Peggy, everyone else are alive and well, together and happy. He himself is ecstatic for having this man in his bed, the one who completes him perfectly.

“I know you do,” Tony says, but he is overjoyed all the same for hearing it - Steve can see it in his eyes. “I love you too.”

With their eyes locked upon each other, Steve’s sure Tony can see the lust in his eyes. Tony inhales sharply.

“ _ Oh, _ it’s  _ that _ kind of day, isn’t it.” Tony’s hand brushes against Steve’s hard cock, wrapping his fingers around it. He squeezes, drawing a groan from Steve.

“Don’t you have work today?”

“Let’s just call it a vacation and stay in,” Tony says, clambering over to lay on top of Steve’s supine body, never letting go of his hold. Steve’s dick pulses in Tony’s grip, and he reaches his hand up to cradle Tony’s neck, pulling him down for a kiss. Tony’s weight upon him feels of safety and home; his kisses tastes like a combination of Steve and Tony.

“Pepper’ll be mad,” Steve says breathlessly, but it’s a weak retort. He wants this, now and forever.

Tony does too, with the way that he presses his lips at Steve’s collarbone and sucks a hickey on his neck. “Fuck Pepper. I want you.”

“I feel like I should tell her that you just blew her off.”

“You’re enjoying this too much to care.”

It’s true. Steve tilts his head down and exchanges kisses with Tony, sliding his free hand down over the ridges of Tony’s naked spine.

He cherishes this - he has it all, and the weight that is above him is a certainty that he has what he desires most. He slides his fingers between Tony’s asscheeks, and Tony moans into his mouth when those fingers circled his hole and press against it.

“Fuck me,” Tony pants out, grinding his cock forward and hissing when the dry friction is too much before he pushes back against the touch of Steve’s fingers. Steve leaves off of Tony’s hole and blindly reaches for the lube. He finds it under his pillow. Tony has stuck his tongue into Steve’s mouth, and he sucks on it greedily. He regrets pulling his hand away from Tony’s nape when he has to uncap the tube, and Tony whines his displeasure at the loss too.

Steve inhales the noise, quickly warming up the lube between his fingers, and then he puts his hand back around the nape of Tony’s neck while his other hand reaches down to envelope their cocks in his hand.

He loves it, the feeling of Tony’s hard cock pressed against the underside of his, and he slicks them both up, making the slide easier. “Does that feel good?” Steve asks, rubbing the tip of Tony’s slit with his thumb.

Tony moans, moving his mouth away from Steve’s lips to press kisses upon his cheek, under his ear, down his neck. “It does. Don’t stop.”

Steve slides his hand up and down their shafts, and Tony’s hips jerk in time. Steve’s not going to last long - he never did the first time, thanks to the serum. “You’re going to have to lay off if you want me to fuck you.”

Immediately Tony sits up and backs off, and Steve whines at the loss of the warmth that was upon him. Just because he said that doesn’t mean he  _ wants _ the weight of his body to leave. But Tony doesn’t go far; he settles upon Steve’s thighs, legs on either side of Steve. He grabs the lube, pours some on his fingers, and reaches behind himself, arching his back and thrusting his chest out, nipples perking into hardened peaks.

Tony is a sight to behold - Steve stares at him, entranced, taking in the sight of the smooth, scar-free body, perfect in every way. In this world, Tony doesn’t get hurt because there is nothing that needs to be fought, and the Iron Man armor down in his workshop is used for pleasure (for quick, breathtaking flights and for something a little dirtier). Tony throws his head back, showing the long, smooth expanse of his neck, gasping as he continues to finger himself and undulating upon Steve’s thighs. His cock is so hard, bobbing in time with his tiny, aborted thrusts on his fingers, and Steve’s own cock is curved up, leaking precome on his stomach.

Steve reaches forward to touch Tony’s thighs. He’s sure the other man is sensitive; Tony shivers when Steve runs his hand along the inside of Tony’s thigh, moans when Steve stops just shy of Tony’s leaking cock.

“You’re... _ ngh _ ...such an ass,” Tony says with a strangled voice when Steve cups Tony’s waist without ever touching the bobbing dick. “Terrible tease.”

“You love it.” Steve smiles even though Tony can’t see it at the moment, working on chasing his own pleasure as he fucks himself on his fingers. “I love you.”

“I’d love it more if your cock was in me,” Tony retorts. It feels like an abnormally long time before Tony finally,  _ finally _ , pulls his fingers out from behind him, grabbing Steve’s cock and stroking it once, twice, slicking it up before he climbs up. Tony looks directly at him then, pupils blown and dazed, as the tip of Steve’s cock breaches his rim.

“ _ Ah _ ! That feels…” Tony trails off, eyes fluttering shut as he sinks down upon the shaft, body accepting the intrusion. “It feels good as always.”

Steve growls. The feel of his cock surrounded by warm and wet heat of Tony’s body is exquisite. “You are good, sweetheart,” Steve manages through his dumb brain. Every single time they do this, Tony takes his breath away, but Steve loves it.

He places a hand around Tony’s cock, pulling the foreskin back to reveal the head of the cock, leaking with precome. He rubs his thumb over the slit to hear Tony groan out, and he swipes the bead off so that he can taste Tony. “You taste good too.”

Steve lets Tony chase after his own pleasure, bouncing atop of him, moaning and panting as the wet, filthy, debauched sounds of their lovemaking fill the room. Tony is perfect, and Steve can’t help but tug him down so that they are pressed chest to chest, nipples rubbing against each other, sweat slicking the way. It feels good to have Tony here, and Steve kisses under Tony’s ear before he nips on the flesh. He finally moves, thrusting into Tony’s ass hard, his movements erratic and uncoordinated.

“Are you going to come for me, sweetheart?” Steve growls in his ear. He thrusts once, twice, straight into Tony’s prostate, and Tony comes with a cry, dropping his head down to Steve’s shoulder as his come splatters and smears in between their bodies. His hole clenches down, and Steve feels his balls draw up too, coming into his lover.

His husband.

He presses soft kisses into Tony’s temple, and he combs through his sweaty hair, holding onto Tony as he shakes in the aftermath of his orgasm. He loves it - he never wants this to end.

\- -

_ Tony is emaciated, exhausted, weak, tired, when he comes down from the  _ Benetar _. Yet, when Steve lays eyes on him for the first time in three years, his throat leaps up into his throat. _

_ He is beautiful as always. Steve wants to run to him, hug him. _

_ Kiss him. _

_ But Pepper gets there first, running to Tony as he stumbles off the ship, holding him up in her hands and kisses him desperately. He can’t say he’s not jealous when Tony slowly wraps his hands around her waist and kisses her back, holding onto her like a man drowning. _

You missed your chance _ , he thinks to himself, watching Tony finally pulling away from her hold to look at them. _

_ At him. _

_ Tony stares straight at him with dark eyes and an unreadable look on his face. Steve doesn’t know whether that’s a good or a bad thing, but it doesn’t change the longing in his heart for something he can no longer have. _

_ But really, Tony has come home, and that’s all that he can ask for: for him to be safe and sound. _

\- -

Sometimes, when Steve’s in his art studio, his chest squeezes tightly within him, and he gets echoes of a life, one with a darker past, that he has never lived. During those times, the clouds outside cover the sun, sending the studio plunging into greyness.

He doesn’t understand these feelings: the ache in his heart, beating hard in his chest, but he knows that he’s sadder when he comes out of these slumps. But he can feel the tears dripping down his face, and on the canvas Tony is staring back at him with haunted eyes.

It doesn’t look at all like  _ his _ Tony, happy and satisfied. This Tony is sad and pained, filled with sorrow. Steve would close his eyes and pull away, unable to bear what he had drawn. Before the paint fully dries, he covers the easel with the white cloth and puts it away in the corner, intending to never see it again.

Because  _ that  _ isn’t Tony. Steve opens his studio doors when he hears a double knock and grins when he sees who is on the other side.  _ This  _ is Tony. Steve envelopes him in a clinging hug, squeezing the man he loves tightly.

“Wow, what an occasion,” Tony says, sliding his arms around the nape of Steve’s neck. “What’s the occasion?”

Steve shuts him up with a kiss, and Tony happily follows Steve’s lead, backing out of the studio with their lips still locked and their fingers roaming each other’s body.

The easel stays standing in the corner of the room, forgotten.

\- -

_ Steve fears for Tony when he gets up from his wheelchair and rips off his IV line. Tony is physically weak and dehydrated; he shouldn’t be expending so much energy as he walks towards Steve with fire in his eyes. _

_ “You’re such a liar,” Tony accuses, getting up close into his face. Tony’s own face is gaunt and pale, and Steve regrets riling Tony up. _

_ He always regrets things because he never  _ thinks _. _

_ “I’m sorry,” Steve says. “Please sit down.” _

_ “I’m fine!” Tony insists, getting even closer. “You said you’d be there. This? This is the result when you decide to gallivant across the globe chasing down Bucky, while  _ I  _ try to protect Earth.” _

_ “We’re done, you hear me?” Tony stumbles into the table and collapses to a knee, brushing off Rhodey’s hand. “We’re done.” _

_ He collapses to the floor, unconscious. _

_ \- - _

Steve inhales noisily, taking in a big breath and blinking awake. He feels as if he’s taking his first fresh breath of air for the first time in a long time. He stares at perfectly white ceiling overhead.

_ Round two _ , he thinks, turning his head to catalogue his surroundings. He’s suspicious, especially after waking up last time; he doesn’t know whether if this is a fluke or if this is real.

(Was him making love to Tony a fluke? He wants desperately for that to be real.)

“Scanning life form.” Steve closes his eyes, savoring the familiar voice, and he lets out a small smile. He’s missed this. “Identity confirmed. Welcome home, Captain Rogers.”

“Hi FRIDAY,” he replies. “It’s good to be back.”

The last thing he remembers is the fact that he went up against Thanos, stood in front of Tony to protect the man from certain death. There wasn’t even a question to put himself as the human sacrifice when the spear pierced his uniform and his flesh like butter. If he could have spared a thought back then, he would have thought it interesting that the spear could pierce his armor because it had been Stark-made. But at the time, all he could think about was gripping the gauntlet in his hand as tightly as he can so that Thanos would focus his attention on him.

\- -

_ The pain reverberates throughout his body a few seconds later, and his knees buckles. It’s a definitive kill shot – he won’t be making it out of this alive. Although he is looking at Thanos directly, he longs to see Tony one last time. Behind him, he hears a desperate “No!” and Steve gathers his last bit of energy to look back at the man that he has always loved, even through their arguments. If there is one thing that he regrets, it’s the fact that he never got a chance to tell him how he felt, that his heart has always been Tony’s. _

_ But if there is one final declaration of love he can give him, it’s to give Tony a fighting chance to defeat their enemy and bring back their friends. Tony looks ethereal, rushing towards him like a beautiful angel. The setting sun glows behind him, and perhaps he’s imagining it, but the rays give Tony red wings that extend past the Iron Man armor. It’s a good way to go. _

_ “I’m sorry Tony,” he manages to say. _

I love you _ is what he doesn’t. He can’t tell him that, not with his life force leaching out into the unknown. He wishes he could have had more and not have wasted so much time pining after him. _

_ They’re out of time now. _

_ What’s on his mind when Thanos lifts his own shield over his head isn’t the fact that he’s about to lose his life to a madman. The sacrifice is worth it. He doesn’t regret this. He regrets not having the chance to brush his fingers against Tony’s skin one last time, feeling the warmth and love that encompasses his soul. He regrets never having placed his lips against the corner of his mouth, cherishing the scent of metal and honey. He regrets that he never got a chance to shout to the world, “I love Tony Stark.” _

_ But still, as his head rolls off his body, this is the last declaration of love he can give him. He hopes that it is enough. _

\- -

He still doesn’t understand why he’s back or even understand how he’s back – it can be a blessing or a curse. Regardless, he’s not going to question it. He’s here, and he will collect information as he goes along. He sits up, grabs his head when it spins, and waits for his eyes to clear before he looks up. When he does, he is hit by his memories. DUM-E is right there in the corner, U right beside him, and Tony’s workshop seems…

Wrong. The shield is propped against one of the legs of his desk, old blood still crusted on the red, white, and blue. Unlike the other times he’s been down in Tony’s workshop, there’s no Tony chattering away at his bots, nor is there any music blasting overhead. It’s quiet, unnaturally so, and Steve can’t shake off the sense of foreboding that settles in his bones.

He brings his knees up under him. After a few failed attempts, he finally manages to stand without falling flat on his face, and he wobbles over to Tony’s desk. His legs are like a newborn colt’s, shaky and threatening to collapse under him. But he manages, and he picks up the shield, placing it upon Tony’s desk.

“FRIDAY,” he asks tentatively, “How long have I been gone?”

Immediately she reports, “One year, three months, and twelve days, sir.”

“Where’s Tony?”

At this, she hesitates, taking longer than the usual time to answer his question. “Sir has not been seen in the compound for two days, Captain, and no reports of his whereabouts have been revealed.”

Steve frowns. “And how did I get here?”

“There was a surge of unknown energy at the location you were in before you appeared,” she reports. “The energy overloaded my systems and required a reboot, so I do not know exactly how you appeared.”

“Okay then,” Steve mutters under his breath, putting back the shield in the same place. He could come back and collect it later. He will, once he gets the rundown from the others.

Steve wobbles out of the workshop, feeling the nostalgic memories wash over him. With every step, he feels stronger and stronger, and he walks through the door, down the corridor, remembering the echoes of his steps here from a long time ago.

He finds them in the living room, standing around the same table they used to strategize the war against Thanos last time. They aren’t looking at him as they huddled around the holoscreens, murmuring among themselves. Up on the screens are images of Tony, and his status on the screen says he’s missing.

Steve walks closer, entranced, forgetting that he is newly revived and the presence of him is a shock to the others. “Where’s Tony?” he asks, looking over Bruce’s shoulder.

When no answer is forthcoming, he finally looks back at their flabbergasted and pale faces. They look as if they had just seen a ghost. “Oh.” To them, he  _ is _ a ghost.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Sam says, stepping forward slowly. He looks unsure, cautious. “That’s what they told me.”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes back, waiting for Sam to reach out. Sam touches a shoulder...pokes really, to see if what is in front of him is truly real. “I thought I was dead too.”

“Your head was separated from your body,” Natasha states flatly. “There is absolutely no way you can come back from that.”

“And yet, here you are,” Bruce finally says, peering at him from behind his glasses. The way he looks at him makes Steve feel as if he is being dissected, as if he is a science experiment to be figured out.

“I’m back,” Steve confirms. “I don’t know how, but I still remember everything from before.” He looks at Bruce. “I know you want to do some experiments, run diagnostics to see how I came back, but now is not the time.”

Steve can see Bruce wants to protest, make sure that he says who he is, and so he says, “FRIDAY, please reassure that I am really me.”

“Indeed, Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY replies. “All scans indicate that he is truly the Captain, Doctor Banner.”

“You’re not getting out of testing though,” Bruce says. Steve nods his head in acknowledgement.

“Now is not the time though.” Steve looks at the floating image of Tony’s profile again. “Where’s Tony?” No one has answered his question yet, and he is beginning to be impatient.

“We don’t know. He was here, at the compound last we saw,” Natasha says. “Feeds from FRIDAY show that he had never left the compound prior to his disappearance, but there was an unexplainable spike in energy two days ago where FRIDAY went offline for several minutes. We had a short scuffle while FRIDAY was taken offline, so we didn’t know that Tony disappeared until yesterday.”

“I have a record that someone used an override code to take me offline,” FRIDAY reports, and they look at each other, horrified.

This is bad. Very bad. A complete breach where someone who shouldn’t know the codes has them. And they are compromised.

“No one has those codes except Tony,” Bruce says lowly. He looks slightly green, although whether it’s from his distaste at the news or a slip of the control he has on the Hulk, Steve doesn’t know.

“And Steve.” Natasha was looking at Steve with unreadable eyes.

But Steve shakes his head. “I didn’t do it. I just woke up here literally a few minutes ago. I’m in the dark as much as you guys are.

“Records show that I was offline for two minutes,” FRIDAY reports. “There were no anomalies otherwise prior to Captain Roger’s sudden appearance.”

“Do you think this relates to Tony’s disappearance?” Steve asks.

“It’s an unexplained phenomenon,” Bruce replies, looking back at the slowly rotating images and graphs. “FRIDAY, please pull up your data for Steve’s appearance, beginning from ten minutes before to ten minutes after.” The graph appears on the holoscreen, and Bruce drags the charts side by side. Steve peers over his shoulder, looking at the squiggly line and the sharp peak in the center. 

After a few moments of quiet contemplation, Bruce says, “I think that the events are linked. See here?” Bruce points at the top of the peaks. “They’re the same surge of energy. This is actually more suited to Doctor Selvig’s field of study, but for some reason he’s been unreachable, so it will take me a lot longer to parse out the information. If I can figure out what device the energy is coming from, then we can perhaps reverse the process and find out where Tony is.”

“How do you feel, Steve?” Natasha asks. She eyes him critically, and he can feel exhaustion seeping over him. But more than that, he feels a strange tugging in his heart, like his heart is going to burst of his chest because there is a string leading him somewhere.

He looks down to see nothing, but the tug is insistent, and he feels as if he’s missing something. Steve looks up to see slight concern on their faces, and he realizes that he has hesitated a lot longer than normal.

“I’m fine,” he says hurriedly, and the wave of exhaustion sweeps over him until he feels like he’s going to collapse on his feet. He sways slightly, and it’s sheer force of will that keeps him standing.

“Tell me, can this be anything to do with the Stones?”

“The Infinity Stones?” Bruce asks. “Tony said that they were gone, that he destroyed them. We haven’t seen the Stones since.”

“The Infinity Stones can’t be destroyed,” a new voice said. “They can only be hidden. Tony lied to you.”

It sounds like Steve, but also not. It’s flatter than Steve’s tone, with a hint of digitalization, and Steve spins around to eye the newcomer. Beside him, Natasha and Bruce stiffen and fall into loose fighting stances, ready to combat this stranger if they are provoked.

The new figure leans against the doorpost, arms crossed in front of his chest, and Steve notices the subtle differences between them: his other self is colder, sharper, all hard lines and angles. And his uniform isn’t at all like the one Steve wears. Instead of kevlar, the chest plate is made of metal, grey and dulled to hide its shine. The metal extends down to his arms, wrapping around his muscles, and around his thighs too, over his blue pants. It looks like a modified version of the Iron Man armor, a white star painted at the center of the chestplate, and the familiar metal disc peeks out from behind his shoulder.

“Take the helmet off,” Steve demands. He curls his hands into fists. There are too many breaches, more than there should be. Steve’s hackles rise because he doesn’t trust the figure in front of him, even if he believes that it’s another Steve Rogers. He regrets not getting his shield when he had the chance, and he isn’t sure that he could beat the man in front of him with just his bare fists and newly awakened body.

He damn will try if he’s provoked.

Thankfully, the other figure does not try to attack. He leans away from the door, and he complies, finally lifting the faceplate up. Indeed, it is Steve, just a sadder, colder version of him, with hard lines accenting his jaw and greying hair at his temples. He looks old, still perfect in his aging body, and his mouth is downturned and sad.

“Who are you?” Bruce asks. He looks a bit greener, just moments away from hulking out completely.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Steve’s counterpart answers. His voice is deeper and harder, and he walks slowly towards them, metal plates clicking together as he moves forward. The sounds remind Steve of the way Iron Man would walk, when Tony would come back triumphantly after a mission, dismantling his suit when he landed back at the tower. And even when the man fought against him, Steve could never forget the sound that the armour made as it flew towards him. 

This armour though...the sounds, the colours, the person‒

Everything was wrong.

And the other person knows it too, with the way he holds himself in front of Steve. Steve dubs him “Steven” in his head: Steven is similar to Steve, but he isn’t the same.

“Why are you here?” Steve asked.

There are unshed tears brimming in his eyes, eyes that hint at deep regret. “I’m here to right a wrong.”

Space

Tony’s heart aches when he is finally released from the chair, and he slumps over, panting hard. He glares as hard as he can, which, admittedly, isn’t as hard as he’d like.

“You lied about the fact that it won’t hurt,” Tony says through his heavy breaths.

“You lied about the Stones,” Anthony counters in a non sequitur. “You forgot them.”

“The Stones disappeared. I have no idea what you are talking about. I wished them away.”

“You can’t wish the Stones away. It doesn’t work like that. The best you can do is hide their existence so that no one else knows where they are. And then, you determined that the best way to forget them is to delete them from your brain. Only, you can’t delete a normal brain; you can only delete an Extremis-type brain.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You injected Extremis into your bloodstream and then forcibly forgot everything. But you can’t delete memories - echoes of them can still linger even after deletion.”

“But I destroyed Extremis a long time ago. It was too volatile back then, and after I created the serum, I destroyed everything.”

Anthony stares at Tony steadily. “I don’t believe that for a moment. We’re not the type of people to completely destroy everything - we need control, and I bet that you had at least one vial hidden in storage. It’s what I would have done.”

“But you are–“ Tony protests.

“–not you, I know. The sentiment remains the same. And because you’re the only one who has connection to the Stones, you are coming with me to retrieve the Stones.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Tony grumbles.

“You don’t,” Anthony agrees, “but you  _ can _ have the choice to be cooperative about it.” He pulls out a knife. It’s sharp, but the message is less than threatening. Tony knows that Anthony needs him to be there to find the Stones. He’s the common factor, having held all the Stones at one point.

If Tony chooses to be cooperative, then he’ll be free; if he doesn’t, Anthony is going to drag him along anyway. He can’t fight in a bound state, not against himself.

“Fine. Take them off.”

At least, when Anthony cut the ropes away, he stands a decent chance of fighting back when Anthony least expects it.

-

They’ve moved their base to Tony’s workshop because most of his equipment is still there. Steve feels bad for opening up the workshop to them – it’s Tony’s private safe place – but these are extenuating circumstances.

Still, he feels protective about the area. “Don’t touch anything,” Steve insists.

Natasha and Bruce give him a flat look, and Steve stares back at them, unwavering.

It’s Steven who answers. His helmet is tucked under his arm, and he looks around with nostalgia on his face, pausing when he sees the shield by the workbench. His face downturns slightly at the sight, and his eyes look far away, as if he is not there with them, but rather thinking about something in his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Steve stares at them for a moment longer before he reluctantly pulls away and let Bruce do his thing. Bruce moves towards Tony’s worktable, saying aloud, “FRIDAY, please pull up all files related to the Infinity Stones.”

Instantly, the files appear on the holoscreens. It’s a lot of files, overlapping each other, with information on each of the stones and details of...everything. Tony was thorough. Out of the pile of files, Bruce pulls out a series of graphs and studies them. Steve doesn’t know anything about what Bruce is looking at, but it is clear that there are spikes in the graph when he peers closer.

“Energy readings of the Stones,” Bruce explains. He points to each of spikes. “They actually look similar to the other readings. FRIDAY, can you bring in the two graphs we were looking at earlier?”

They appear beside the graphs of the Stones, and Bruce reaches out to drag one of the new graphs over so they overlap perfectly.

“This one is,” here Bruce pauses, expanding the information on the graph. The screen extends to show the information of the red stone.

The Reality Stone.

“So, Tony had the Reality Stone in his possession,” Steve says.

“It’s a safe guess to say that the intruder had the Reality Stone, based on the way that he was able to enter and exit out of the Compound without being detected. I don’t think it was Tony.”

“And he also would have had to know the codes to FRIDAY to disable her.”

Steve looks at Steven. “It’s another Tony.” It wasn’t a question, but Steven nods in confirmation.

“I’m pretty sure that  _ a _ Tony took your Tony, and I have a strong sense that the Tony I’m chasing after is mine.”

Steve walks towards his counterpart until he’s merely two feet away, facing him head-on. “Tell me what happened.”

“My reasons are my own,” Steven counters. He stares back, unafraid at the direct challenge.

“You got us into this mess, and my Tony is gone while your Tony is off doing whatever God knows what. I think we deserve an explanation.”

“I’m only here to help. My reasons, my business.”

Steve stares at his counterpart, jaw set in a hard and thin line. He doesn’t like it, but Steven is just as much as a son of a bitch as he is, and they really could do this all day when it comes down to it.

They don’t have the  _ time _ for it.

“Fine,” Steve breathes, turning back to the graphs. “But if I don’t get him back, I’m going to beat you bloody until I get that explanation.”

“You won’t even have to do that. I’ll beat myself up first.”

-

The first place they go together is Edinburgh.

They take first class because they’re flying under the radar (but not really), donning matching baseball caps and beards. It’s a slight surprise that no one notices them, with Tony Stark being famous and all, and he doesn’t know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Tony suspects it has something to do with Anthony’s technological meddling, although he doesn’t feel any different.

They make it to the Edinburgh Castle unimpeded, and Tony plucks the Space Stone from the Crown Jewels as Anthony distracts the guards and loops the cameras up above. If the jewels from the scabbard grow a little dimmer from the missing Space Stone, no one notices because crowd control is desperately needed outside the room.

What clings to his mind like a broken record is the revelation that he has injected Extremis. He didn’t know he had injected Extremis into his body, but as he goes through the records in his mind, he notices patches and missing memories from around the date he wished the Stones away. Not missing per se, but overwritten memories, ones that would pass just fine in a quick glance, but if Tony actually thinks about it, those memories don’t make sense.

It all makes sense now, but it still doesn’t solve the issue of reversing that process and accessing Extremis.

He needs to do so and fast because now that Anthony has the Space Stone, it’s only a matter of time before he gets the others too. As a human without his suit, Tony has no chance against his counterpart; if he has Extremis, on the other hand, he would have a decent fighting chance.

While Anthony is distracted and fiddling with his GPS device, Tony strolls off aimlessly, casually pulling out a phone he snatched at the airport. He’s lucky he stole a fully charged cell, a StarkPhone no less, and it’s only a matter of tweaking it before he is able to log into the satellite.

“Hey FRI,” Tony says lowly. “Send coordinates back to the Compound. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but if you can send me files to Extre—”

The phone is snatched out of his hand and dropped to the ground. Anthony crushes it underneath his foot.

“I thought you might try something like that,” Anthony says lightly. He doesn’t look mad at all, just amused. “It really doesn’t matter though. Bring them here, let them think we’re still on this planet. I found the next Stone.”

The Space Stone glows brightly in Anthony’s hand. Black surrounds the two and the world fades away.

-

Bruce overlays the second graph on one of the charts. “This is the usage of the Soul Stone,” Bruce says, using his fingers to open the details. “It makes sense: you died for the Soul Stone, so it’s highly likely that the Stone brought you back.”

“Question is why?”

“Tony must be looking for the other Stones,” Steven says. “That’s the only explanation possible.”

“Captain, a cell phone just pinged my server,” FRIDAY reports. “I have audio transmission retrieved prior to signal dropping.”

“Play it.” Steve’s voice is hoarse, and he hopes that it’s Tony. He bites his bottom lip, worrying the flesh, looking at the screen as the audio file appears over the graphs and plays the sound bite.

“ _ Hey FRI. _ ” It’s Tony, and Steve feels relieved upon hearing his voice. It’s the first time in more than a year since he’s last heard it. This mere audio file isn’t the same as the real man himself - he wants to see him, but still, his heart unclenches slightly hearing the cadence of that voice. “ _ Send coordinates back to the Compound. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but if you can send me files to Extre—” _ The file ends there.

“What?” Steve asks.

Steven seems to know what it is though. “Extremis. It’s a science created so that the human body can heal and regenerate from injury, even the most crippling ones like the loss of a limb. It’s designed to become the next generation of the superserum, but before Tony got his hands on it, it was super volatile.”

Tony never mentioned it before. “FRIDAY, pull up the files.”

The files on the Infinity Stones condenses and is placed off to the side, and Extremis appears on screen. Steve studies it. It’s all technical jargon, which means most of it he doesn’t understand, but he gets the gist of it from what he does.

“Why did he ask for this?” Steve asks, but it’s rhetorical. The others are silent, assessing the files; they can only guess with what limited information they have and no Tony. Steve shakes his head. “Okay, that’s not important. What’s important is that we need to find Tony. What are these coordinates?”

“ 55.9486° N, 3.1999° W,” FRIDAY says.

Steve looks at each of them in the eye. “Suit up, we’re going to do search and rescue.”

-

Tony is winded when they land. His chest aches; he brings a hand to rub at it. The pressure doesn’t go away, but it eases slightly as his body recalibrates after the trip.

They’re in the middle of the desert of God knows where. There’s a cactus beside him that is pricking his arm. The sun beats down upon Tony relentlessly, and already he feels beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. There’s a hint of a town at the edge of the horizon, and he’s feeling sticky and uncomfortable in his clothes.

“Where are we?”

“Battleworld.”

“What?”

Anthony holds up a device. It looks like a watch, except it doesn’t have a face - not a normal watch face that is. It’s digitized, showing all the details of their trip in a mini-holoscreen. “This keeps tracks of my travels, uses triangulation to determine which universe it is in.”

Tony looks at him, willing him to explain further.  After a moment, he does. “I made this when I found out that there were multiple universes out there. Reed provided the details; I provided the tech.”

“Who?” Tony asks blankly, and Anthony gives him a sharp look.

“Richard Reeds? Fantastic Four?” When Tony stays silent Anthony shakes his head. “Never mind. Point is, we made this so that we can track the details of our multi-verse trips. And we’re on the Battleworld right now.”

Tony looks at the watch curiously. He wants to see it, wants to disassemble it and understand the components, but Anthony hides it from his view, tucking his wrist back into his pocket. “Come on, we have work to do.”

“Wait.” Anthony stops and turns back around; he looks impatient, but Tony can’t give a damn. He’s here and he needs to know why. “Why are we here?”

Anthony gives him a look. “You feel it, don’t you? You’ve wielded the Stones, you’re connected to them. They call out to you, and we’re here because there’s a Stone here.”

He’s right: if Tony concentrates, he feels a thrumming in the back of his mind, tugging at him insistently. He moves forward, unbidden, following the beckoning. Then he shakes it off and glares at his counterpart, who has, in the time Tony was distracted, donned his armor.

Anthony stares back at him impassively. “What?”

“You’re such a bastard, you know that?”

He smirks. “Pot, meet kettle.”

“At least give me a suit so I don’t die of heat exhaustion,” Tony grumbles, walking towards the direction of the town.

“You should be able to withstand it with Extremis,” Anthony replies dismissively, walking beside him for a few steps before taking off.

Tony looks up in jealousy at the way that Anthony is flying in the air. He doesn’t like that he’s crippled, that his wings are clipped, and the hot desert sun still beats down on him. Interestingly, however, he doesn’t feel like he’s dying under the less-than-ideal condition; he feels just fine. Peachy perhaps, but there is no pressing weight of cotton in his brain; just the thrumming of the Stone fills his mind.

While Anthony is up ahead, casting a small shadow on the ground, it gives Tony plenty of time to think about Extremis. Much of his knowledge has been thrown away, buried under a pile of other obsolete information, but echoes of it still remain in his mind.

He just needs to pull it out.

If that’s the case, if he indeed has Extremis, he needs to unlock its powers to have even a modicum of a chance at defeating his counterpart.

Tony’s glad that his counterpart is not there breathing down his back - it gives him a space to filter all the information about Extremis, figure out if the deletion that Anthony was talking about is recoverable. He sets to work on unlocking the information that is held tight behind firewalls.

He never noticed it before - it’s hidden behind some camouflage, so if Anthony hadn’t pointed it out to him, he would have never noticed it in quick glance. But once he’s focused inwards in his mind, it’s clear that it is made to hide in plain sight. It’s strange that his brain is wired like a computer. He never thought he would do that, but he’s glad for it now because it means that he is strong, he has a chance against the other man. One by one, Tony batters against the wall in his brain, working to bring them down.

By the time they reach the town, he’s slightly tired, sweaty, and ready to rest. Anthony lands beside him, hops forward a few steps, and the armor melts away back into his skin, leaving no trace but the original suit he had been wearing. Tony glares at him again for good measure.

“Such a bastard,” he says.

Anthony shrugs, then walks into town. Tony follows.

The one good thing about the long trek is that he has removed a good portion of the walls from his mind, and it’s only a matter of time before anything and everything hidden is let out. Tony hesitates. Does he want to do this?

Is whatever living behind the wall worth reliving?

Tony’s been depressed for so long, living a life adrift at sea without the man he loves. If he could have that chance again, he would take it.

The cost would be well worth it if he gets Steve back.

The loud cadence of the hammer striking reverberates through the town. “ _ The summer's gone, and all the roses falling, _ ” a voice sings through the alternate quietness of metal ringing. “ _ It's you, it's you must go and I must bide. _ ”

“Where’s the Stone?” Anthony asks lowly, looking around town.

They’ve been getting weird looks as they walked through, some with mild curiosity, some with fear. But indeed, they look out of place here, what with the town looking like it came out of a Western movie.

Tony hissed back, “How should I know?”

“You’re the one with the Stone GPS!”

Before he can answer, there is the sound of a gun cocking behind them.

“Hello boys. Turn around, slowly.”

They do. They have to, or else they’ll be shot in the back. For good measure, they keep their hands up to face the man behind them.

The Sheriff’s badge contains the Mind Stone. It gleams brightly in the setting sun, almost like it’s taunting them to get it. Tony side-eyes Anthony.

“None of that now, or I’ll shoot,” the Sheriff says, and Tony reluctantly turns back to face him. “Who are you and what is your purpose here?”

“Uhhh, nobody and nothing,” Anthony says first. “We’re just here because we’re passing through. We just need to stay for the night and we’ll be out of your hair tomorrow morning.”

The Sheriff looks at them skeptically. “Without horses? We’re in the middle of nowhere.  _ Try again _ .”

Clearly, talking won’t work, and there is no other excuse that they can give. Tony sighs. “We’re really sorry about this,” he says. What he doesn’t is,  _ but if we must, we will take that Stone by brute force.  _ Screams ring through the night sky as Anthony fires a concussive blast at the Sheriff’s chest. The pistol the Sheriff was holding goes off, sending a shot into the air, and Tony gives his counterpart a dirty look.

“I thought this was going to be a quiet in and out mission,” he says flatly.

Anthony shrugs. “Couldn’t be helped.”

With the Sheriff down, it’s easy for Tony to reach out for the badge. He’s about to unpin the thing when someone new says, “Stop what you’re doing.”

They look up, facing yet another Iron Man. It reminds Tony of his own Mark I, the crude one he created back in Afghanistan, and those eyes behind the helmet look dead. His hand is outstretched, palm facing them – it’s a dangerous position to be in even with the suit.

Question is, whose repulsor blast is larger?

“Tony.”

“How do you know my name?” he demands.

“We know you. We’re  _ you.” _ Anthony lifts his hand, revealing his own gauntlet to him. Anthony’s tech is so much more enhanced than an 1872 world, and the third-Tony stares with awe and slight fear.

“Why are you here?”

Tony lifts the badge up. “For this.”

“No! You can’t take that!” He sounds almost desperate. “That’s mine! Well, it’s the Sheriff’s, but you can’t take that with you. It used to be Steve’s. I’ll fight you if you try to take that away from me.”

“What happened?” Tony asks, voice gentle, drawing his hand away from the badge for a moment.

This universe’s Tony growls. “Fisk happened. Fisk hated Steve and the fact that he ruined all his plans. Killed him in cold blood and fed him to the pigs.”

Tony made a noise of commiseration, down deep within his chest. “I’m sorry.”

The silver metal helmet is taken off his head, held delicately within the large palms of the gloves. “Yeah, well, had I not been drinking myself under the table, I could have stopped it.” His eyes have unshed tears, making them shiny and so blue and brittle. That Sheriff’s badge is all I have left, so don’t you dare take that.”

“If we can bring him back, would you want him?” Anthony asks in a tone equally soft, and the third Tony jerks up in surprise.

“Could you do that?”

Anthony nods. “Yeah, I can.”

The third Tony watches the two of them, looking to see if there are any lies in what they’re saying, but he finds none. Then, he nods. “Yes, I want him back. He didn’t deserve that death he was given.”

“We can bring him back. We just need the thing inside the badge.”

“Okay. Just don’t take the badge.”

“We won’t.” Tony settles the badge back on top of the Sheriff’s chest, and in his palm is the Mind Stone.

-

As they expected, they find no trace of the missing Tonys, even though Steve has been hoping that he could feel a hint of him here.

There’s an insistent tugging on his heart, and he reaches up to rub his sternum. It’s not painful, per se, just annoying, and he can’t stop thinking about the pull, like an unknown force is telling something.

“You alright there, Steve?” Natasha asks.

Steve draws his hand away from his chest, but the ache is still there. He resists the urge to rub at it again. “Yeah,” he says, a beat longer than normal, and they’re all looking at him with a confused and assessing look in their eyes. “What? I’m fine.” he insists.

“We should have really done tests back at the Compound,” Bruce comments.

“I’m  _ fine _ , Bruce, really.”

Natasha steps closer to him, and he feels like he’s a specimen under a microscope. “You’re not that fine. You’re pale, and you’re shaking slightly.”

As she speaks, he notices that he is indeed. He feels cold, like he’s in shock, and the tug in his heart pulls more insistently. He staggers, held up only because Natasha’s keeping him upright on one side and Steven on the other.

“What’s going on?” Nat demands, and Steve brings up a shaking palm to his chest.

He replies through chattering teeth, “I don’t know. It just feels like my heart is pulling apart.”

The get him back into the Quinjet, forcing him to lie down, ignoring his insistence of “Don’t worry about me. We need to find Tony.”

It’s Steven who stops him, puts a steady hand on his chest. “We can’t do that unless you’re okay. There’s nothing out there anyway besides this.”

In his hand is a broken StarkPhone, shattered beyond belief.

“They were here, but not anymore. There’s no trace of them left.”

“There is yet another spike in energy though, Captain,” FRIDAY says. “It matches the energy levels from the Stones. Comparing all graphs, the level matches the one with the Space Stone.”

“So it’s safe to say that they’re not on this planet anymore,” Steve gasps. He cries out, clutching his chest, feeling the pull in his heart stretch him until the string feels like it’s about to snap. “Fuck!”

There’s a pinprick on his neck, the cool wave of a liquid spreading through his veins, and he succumbs to the darkness. It won’t last long, he knows, and he’s resentful that they drugged him, but it is also a blessing until they figure out what’s wrong with him.

-

They find the Time Stone in the Collector’s vault, and it is too easy to sneak in and out of that place to take it. With nearly all of the Stones in their possession, the thrumming in his mind grows louder, like a hive of angry bees buzzing in his mind.

It’s here that he finally breaks down the final wall and lets Extremis loose. Really though, there’s not much of a change besides the realization that he’s stronger now. He’s been stronger, but the knowledge that came with it was locked away, hobbling him into thinking he was still a human with normal strength.

Now he knows, and perhaps he can finally fight his counterpart and stop him from doing something so terrible that they can’t come back from it.

Two more trips, and then the Stones will be together again. Tony is hopeful that he can get Steve back, but he also dreads the power of the Stones when they  _ are _ back together again.

Anthony uses the Space Stone again, and this time, Tony’s stomach mildly churns they land in what looks like DC. They are standing in the middle of the National Mall, grass crushed underneath their feet. To the right is the Air and Space Museum, to the left is the National Gallery of Art; the Capitol is just up ahead.

“Which universe is this?”

“616.”

It looks similar enough to back home that he feels like home. Perhaps he can make his escape here, stop the Stones from coming together again. If he can call the Avengers, ask for asylum, maybe they can fight Anthony.

It’s for the greater good. Tony  _ wants _ Steve back, but the consequence of it is too damn high, and it weighs on his mind. Still, for the sake of appearances, he walks straight into the Air and Space Museum. He can feel a Stone tugging insistently at the back of his mind.

They find the Power Stone tucked under Cap’s helmet, and it takes some creative maneuvering to remove the helmet from its stand without anyone watching and take the glowing stone. The cameras are easy enough: with Extremis humming in his mind now, he feels anything and everything electronic, and he knows that Anthony has a version of Extremis in his body himself. It’s too easy to cut the camera feed with his mind, looping previous footage into enough time to slip in and out of the exhibit.

Still, he needs to try, try to reach out…

He does it: he knocks Anthony down when he least expects it and races out. He can get to one of SHIELD’s strongholds, ask for the Avengers.

So focused on the mission, he nearly misses the way the front of the Capitol steps are suddenly packed with news station vans and non-descript black cars. But he notices soon enough, and he slows down to see Captain America climbing up the Capitol steps, hands handcuffed behind his back, head down and shoulders slumped forward.

It’s too easy to look past Steve’s dejected demeanor and see this version of himself looking impassively down at Steve.

“No,” Tony whispers, his feet stuck to the ground. “ _ No. _ ”

The good Captain should never be put on trial, especially not in a way so public as this. He can’t believe it.

A shot rings out, and Steve falls forward, collapsing to his knees as blood appears from where the bullet has struck him. The crowd scrambles up, screaming, and Tony’s view is temporarily obstructed by the chaos. But with the way the bullet struck his heart, he knows it’s inevitable that Steve is going to die, and with it, his hopes of escape and stopping this plan dies with it.

“It’s Tony’s fault.” Tony looks up to see Anthony’s face staring back at him.

“How do you know?”

Anthony nods towards the steps. “Look at him, he looks so guilty. Plus, we’re the only ones who can bring the best and the worst to Steve.”

“And bringing them back will help solve this problem?”

There’s a tug when the Space Stone draws them out of the universe, and Anthony says, in the middle of darkness, “I know this will.”

He snags the final Stone – the Soul Stone, no less – from the nape of Tony’s neck, and the energy of the Stones gathers as they come together. “I just want my family back, and I just want to do things right for once.”

The Stones, so close together, fill his entire mind, draining him of his life force as they gain back their power. Tony can’t breathe because he can’t control his own body with the way the Stones are taking his energy from him, and they’re home, back in Tony’s familiar workshop, finished with their mission.

They’re done, and Tony’s failed his mission. He has run out of time.

Time

The Mind Stone shatters in his counterpart’s hand, dousing the workshop in an ephemeral yellow glow. The last thread of energy feeds into the Stone, and his entire soul is consumed.

Perhaps now he can rest, perhaps see Steve again.

For a time, Tony and Anthony’s souls shine with the Mind Stone, and he  _ sees _ -

\- -

_ Steve is coming back to the Tower after his vacation going cross country on his bike. Tony watches his red dot move slowly across the country, just barely stopping himself from hacking into the local feeds to make sure the Captain is okay. _

_ “You’ve got it so bad,” Pepper says when she walks into his workshop. He hurriedly closes the feed before he turns to her, but her knowing look still remains on her face. _

_ They tried it out once, Pepper and him that is. It was great for a time, but Pepper deserved someone who was better than him. He loved her - he still loves her; he knows that she does too. But they are not good together. _

_ He’s happy she’s found her better half in Happy, and it frees Tony to look at the eye-candy called Steven Grant Rogers. _

_ “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony protests. It is a weak one really; he can’t escape Pepper’s sharp eyes, and Pepper knows he knows too. _

_ She confirms it a moment later. “Don’t lie. I know you and I see the way you look when you talk about him. ‘Look at his eyes! They’re so sky blue and I just want to drown in them.’ Or, ‘His body is so perfect: big chest, twelve-pack, and a hunk of a dick!’” _

_ Tony blushes hard. “I’ve never said that. And really Pep? A monster dick?” _

_ Pepper leers. “Don’t think I haven’t seen the way your eyes trail down to the meat packing between his legs. It’s a wonder you even manage to get work done with that distraction.” _

_ Really, Tony can’t get away from her. But still, “I don’t know if he likes me, or if he even likes men.” He glances back at the screen, pretending he still can see the red dot moving across it. _

_ Pepper leans against his workbench, watching him closely. “When have that ever stopped you from pursuing people, Tony?” Her voice is somber, her tone soft. _

_ “It’s Cap. I can’t be going around defiling America’s national icon.” _

_ “And you’re Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire,  _ former _ playboy, philanthropist. Once you peel off the layers, all I can see is that you’re caring and kind, willing to lay on wire for your friends.” _

_ “That’s not what he said.” _

_ “He was going off of faulty information,” she argues. “You don’t let people in easily, hence why he would assume that way. But if Steve got to know you, he would see everything I’ve said. _

_ “You’re a good person, Tony. Let him see that because you deserve to be happy.” Pepper kisses the top of his head, and he hugs her waist, pressing his face against her hem of her blouse and inhaling her scent. He missed this, but he misses a certain someone a lot more. “Ask him out when he comes back, and he’ll get to see the good side of you.” _

_ - _

_ Steve said yes. Tony sits on his bed, freaking out while he looks at his open closet door.  _ He said yes!

_ Tony never expected Steve to agree to go out on a date with him, but now that he has, Tony doesn’t know what to do. _

_ He calls Pepper, just a stone’s throw away from having a mental breakdown. “Help,” he gets out when she finally picks up. “He said yes and I don’t know what to wear, or where to go, or what to do.” _

_ Thank God for Pepper. “Breathe, first things first,” she instructs, waiting while Tony takes big, exaggerated breaths. “Second, let me tell you good job. I’m really happy for you. I had faith that he would say yes to you asking. I have just sent you tickets to the Met and booked you seats for the Momofuku Ko at eight p.m. under your usual alias. Wear the Tom Ford and the gold tie you bought three months ago; it’ll bring out your eyes.” _

_ “That’s really fast, did you predict that he would say yes to me?” _

_ Pepper chuckles. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Tony. I’m just prepared for all circumstances because you’re unpredictable.” _

_ With her instructions, the anxiety in Tony’s chest eases, and he can breathe freely again. “Pep?” he says softly. “Thank you. You’re the best.” _

_ He wants to say so much more like how much Pepper helped him whenever he needed her most, was his rock even if they didn’t unfortunately work out as lovers, but the words get stuck in his throat. He can’t help the way that his feelings bubble up in his chest, making him emotional and happy. _

_ Pepper knows though. “You’re welcome, Tony,” she replies. “You got this. You’re a good man, and Steve should see that. If he doesn’t, that’s on him, and you’ll deserve so much better.” _

_ Tony breathes. “Yeah.” _

_ Even though he loves Pepper, he loves her like a sister, the best sister he could ever have. _

_ “Is that all, Mr. Stark?” She asks, lighthearted and teasing. _

_ Tony can’t help but smile back, “That is all, Ms. Potts.” _

_ He’s glad he has her to have his back. He  _ can _ do this. _

_ “JARVIS, remind me to send her shoes and a bouquet.” _

_ “Noted, sir.” _

_ With Steve, the crush he had on a hero when he was young has grown into a love for the actual man himself, perfect in all ways. A true gentleman, caring, passionate, and beautiful. Art connoisseur, amazing hero, center of Tony’s budding love life. But as much as he is a perfect man for Tony, he is still unused to the life that Tony lives. Tony can see the way he feels out of his depth in a place that is so expensive when they arrive at Momofuku Ko. Tony doesn’t want that - he doesn’t want to see Steve stiff and uncomfortable in his chair. “How about we go to Lombardi’s instead?” Tony suggests. “Good Italian food that reminds me of home.” _

_ Steve looks relieved, and he nods. _

_ - _

_ Steve pushes him back against the wall, pressing his whole body against Tony’s. Tony’s been teasing him the whole night, giving him coy looks from across the room as Steve does his duty as a military man and Tony himself dances with pretty maidens on his arm. They’re pretty alright, and before Steve, Tony would have taken an easy one home for a quick fuck. _

_ But then is not now, and he only has an eye for one person, and a man at that. Steve is absolutely sexy in his military dress, medals adorning his chest, but Steve is busy with the brass, and Tony will just have to make do with eye candy… _

_...until the next time he makes his rounds, he comes face to face with a familiar man with a twinkle in his sapphire eyes and a teasing grin. _

_ “May I have this next dance?” he asks, bowing slightly and extending a hand. _

_ Tony grins. Takes the proffered hand. “You may.” _

_ And he spends the next song staring with lust at the man he loves, brushing his fingers teasingly at the pulse point in his wrist, giving him a cheeky grin with his tongue peeking out between his lips, and then finally grinning when those blue eyes darken with lust. He gets dragged off the stage, away from the crowd of people, finds himself in a study with Steve’s tongue down his throat. _

_ “Such a naughty tease,” Steve growls. Tony gives him an incredulous look. _

_ “I’m the tease? Look at you with your perfect army blues, dressed to the nines, sharp and sexy, and you’re calling  _ me _ the tease.” _

_ “Not as sexy as you. Your suit is so crisp that I just want to wrinkle it because it’s too perfect.” _

_ “Oh, hell yes. I’m definitely on board with that. Come on, Captain Perfect, tell the world that Tony Stark got fucked.” _

_ Steve nips the flesh of Tony’s ear, hands working on Tony’s belt. Tony’s grabbed Steve’s hair, clinging for dear life as Steve works him with clever hands (who knew Steve wasn’t a blushing virgin? Tony certainly hadn’t until he was pushed over into his bed at the end of the third date and opened so thoroughly that his brain leaked out of his ears.) _

_ And when Tony finally shakes apart, Steve looks at him, satisfied. _

_ - _

_ Who knew that last night was the end; who knew that this morning was the beginning of the end? _

_ Tony can still feel the come leaking out of him from Steve’s lovemaking of last night, bruises where his fingers pressed against his skin, kisses still ghosting down his spine. _

_ He thought this would last forever. He thought he could have Steve forever. _

_ Tony’s asshole clenches with want. He wants to be back in bed with Steve with his dick in his hole, pressing against his prostate while he shares kisses with him. He wants to be touched, back pressed against Steve’s chest, holding hands while Steve slowly fucks into him, enveloping him with love and desire. _

_ Time flies quickly; time flies slowly, and Tony looks down at his hands, pretending that he sees the blood staining his fingers. He sinks down to the floor, back pressed against his workbench, feeling numb to the whole world. Steve’s chosen Bucky and left Tony behind. _

_ His world has fallen apart at the bunker in Siberia: his chest feels like it’s split open, and he can’t feel his legs because the shield has cut him off from his power source, sending him plummeting towards the hard, unforgiving floor. He can’t move. He can’t call for help. _

_ He’s alone. _

_ The feeling of betrayal settles in his gut, laying right by his broken legs. What is there to fight for now? _

_ He’s lost, drowning in a sea of pain, floating without an anchor. _

_ - _

Tony’s dreamed of this, being with Steve before; Anthony got the opportunity. He’s jealous, more than a little bit, that he got the chance to be with who he loved.

Loves, because he’s sure Steve is back, alive, and whole.

He just wished he got the same opportunity before everything fell apart.

Tony gasps his final breaths thinking of Steve’s soft smile and drowning in his blue eyes.

-

_ Every time he walks back into the Compound, he’s painfully aware that the only ones there are Vision, Rhodey, and him. _

_ He misses Steve terribly. It’s his fault for walking away. _

It’s not Steve’s fault _ , Tony beats the notion inside his head. One day, those words will stick. _

_ Steve has his reasons for walking away, and it must be Tony’s fault. Was he not good enough for him? _

_ The Accords were supposed to be a way so that they can not live above the law; Ultron was supposed to be a way for them to finally have peace. Tony staggers, his knees giving out from under him. He falls to the floor, bracing his hands against it. He wants to give up. _

_ He shouldn’t - he can’t. _

_ Did he push Steve too far? He must have, else why would he leave Tony behind? _

_ He thought Steve would be different, though. He thought he could have Steve forever. _

_ Now he knows: everyone he loves always ultimately leaves him. _

_ Still, Steve’s the best person he knows, so it’s not a question that he is going to help him as much as he can, no matter where he is. _

_ - _

_ The entire world has fallen apart. Thanos has won. United they stand; divided they fall. _

_ Tony is adrift at sea, and he falls to his broken knees, wondering if there is anything that he could change. His armor is completely wrecked, and he’s alone on Titan. He clenches his dirty fist, brings it up to his lips in supplication, praying to a God he doesn’t believe in. _

_ It’s all his fault, and he wasn’t strong enough to fight Thanos. _

_ Half of the universe paid the price of their mistakes. _

_ There’s a feeling in his hand. He draws his hand away and opens his palm. _

_ The Reality Stone gleams in the dying light, and he wishes he can fix all this. Steve has always been better at fixing things, at making things better. _

_ He ruins them... _

Mind

Steve wakes up with a gasp as they land back at the Compound. His chest is no longer hurting him, and he’s feeling better than he had before.

“How long was I out?” he asks.

Steven looks at him. “Two hours. But more importantly, they’re back. FRIDAY reported energy levels off the charts back at the Compound before she was completely disabled.”

“I feel better now too.”

“We had a hypothesis that your soul is connected to the Soul Stone. Because the Stone was far away, you felt the distance pulling at you.” Bruce is evaluating him, looking at the charts yet again. “Your appearance is exactly like the levels of the Soul Stone, so somehow you came back because of the Stone.”

Steve nods understanding. “Yeah, that makes sense. They’re back now though.”

Bruce says, “And it’s safe to say that they have all the Stones if they’re back in the Compound.”

“They shouldn’t. The cost of having them together is too high.” Natasha shakes her head. “We know that from last time, with Thanos.”

Steven looks at Steve. “But they have now, and we need to stop them.”

“Agreed.” Steve gets up from his seat. It isn’t like Tony to be careless, in any iteration of him. Steve walks beside his counterpart through the corridors of the compound. It’s like an ouroboros: what has gone around has come around again.

They walk through the compound, Steve leading the way because this is his home, but at the same time, he fears that he’s too late, that intercepting Anthony will be impossible now because they took too long in finding him.

In his contemplation, he hadn’t noticed that his feet slowed down until he comes to a near stand-still – Steven brings him back to the present. “Steve. I can hear you thinking. Stop it. We need to focus on getting Tony to stop this. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We’ve all made mistakes, and we all must live with it. There’s no use in dwelling on the past.”

“Yeah,” Steve replies quietly. But it isn’t like he could turn off his mind and be blind to Tony’s plight. No matter the universe, Tony is always going to be on his mind, and he would never be unbiased towards him. Tony brought out the best in him as much as he did the worst.

And Steven knows too. All of them did. “Every Tony trusts his Steve, and it’s no different here.”

“He trusts himself to find the best possible solution for the universe, no matter the consequences. And if it is so heinous, he would not tell us to save us from the pain and the decision. But himself? He didn’t trust himself at all because he is always reckless and self-sacrificing.”

Steve agrees. The nuke, Ultron, the Accords, they all began when Tony tried to save the universe from itself, but they always turn on him. “But we always come back when he needs help.”

“No.” Steven looks away, staring blankly ahead of him. Then he shakes his head and looks down. “I didn’t this time. I looked in your timeline, and the events up to the split of the Avengers were exactly the same. What happens after, though, is different.” Steven laughs. It is an ugly laugh, one fills with pain and guilt. “He tried killing Bucky in your timeline. Nearly succeeded too. I was the one who fought him and hurt him. Swung my shield at his back so that he went plummeting towards the ground.”

“I saw the pain and betrayal in his eyes when I carried Bucky away. Later, I found out that he was paralyzed from the fight. I read the latest reports in the Compound, and Tony barely survived that fight. Vision found him holding onto the last breaths of life.”

It was James Rhodes who lost the use of his legs during the events of their split. With Tony, it sounds a lot worse, both because he is never one to let an injury stop him from fighting and because it is  _ Tony. _ Steve swallows and opens his mouth to say something, but Steven barrels on. “I didn’t know…about it, before. He kept his injury from reaching the press, so it didn’t seem like anything was wrong. When Thanos came, the phone rang, but I was in the middle of a mission that required complete radio silence, and when I found out he rang, he was already off-world. Then Thanos happened, and everything had gone to hell.”

“We couldn’t save Earth,” Steven whispers. “The relationship between us is completely damned. He was always his own worst enemy.”

And it is so true. Tony is Atlas, carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulders. “It’s not too late,” Steve says desperately. It is a feeble and dying hope. He sacrificed his life to defeat Thanos, and he always expected to die so that Tony could live and save the world. Now that he’s back miraculously, he had imagined that he could have a second chance at happiness, but like always, Tony had to screw it up and be the self-sacrificing idiot that he so loves and hates.

Steven looks at him, throat bobbing up and down as he swallows. “Let’s hope it isn’t.”

They reach Tony’s workshop door. They know what lies ahead is their final fight. He just hopes that his Tony is still alive.

“FRIDAY, Captain’s override: Charlie-Twenty-two-oh-two-Yankee-Zulu.”

No answer; FRIDAY’s offline again. Steve sighs. “Tony always has to make it harder for us.”

Steven chuckles thinly. “We wouldn’t have it any other way though.” He takes a step back, then another one, pulling his shield from off his back. “I’ll blast it down. If there is anything I know about Tony, any Tony, it’s that he’s created something that is near impenetrable.”

“He would.” Steve goes to stand behind Steven, and the Arc Reactor in the center of his shield powers up, whining loudly as it gains energy, and it shoots a blast towards the shut door.

The door crumples inwards at the center, letting out a powerful wave of energy that washes over them.

The workshop is doused in yellow light, illuminated by the Mind Stone. The raw energy emitting from the stone pushes both Steves backwards back into the wall behind them, and it’s only their determination that keeps them pushing forward against the energy.

Steve gasps. “Tony.”

“Get back!” Tony cries. The  _ other _ Tony, that is, the one with the eyepatch. His eyes are filled with sorrow, and he holds the Stone in his hand as Steve’s own Tony glows in the light.

Steve steps forward, ignoring the insistent demands for his retreat. He can’t follow directions when his Tony lays there, partially translucent and ghostly.

“Tony, don’t do this,” Steven says, stepping forward with Steve.

The first repulsor shot is completely unexpected, and only Steven’s quick reflexes in throwing the shield in front of them saves them from being shot backwards. The beam shoots into the air when Steven angles his shield that way so that the beam doesn’t hurt any of them.

“I have to,” Anthony replies. “This is my penance Steve.” Tears drip down his lone eye. “I’m sorry, I’m so very sorry about it.”

“What are you sorry for?” Steven asks. “I was the one who hurt you.”

“And I was the one who started it all, and it cost me everything: my life, the kid, you, the fate of the universe was in my hands, just because I couldn’t get over myself and call you for help.”

“Really, it’s better this way.” Anthony looks down, sorrow crossing his face.

“Don’t do this,” Steven’s voice sounds thick, even behind his helmet, the voice flattened to a digitalized, synthetic tone.

“Why? Why now, when I can fix everything?”

“Because this isn’t you,” Steve replies. He wants to get closer, save his Tony, but Anthony is too volatile, ready to pull the trigger at any sudden movements.

Anthony gives him a flat look. “Really? You don’t know me. I killed everyone! All I just want to do is make things right.”

“And what does making things right mean?” Steven asks, softly, gently, as if he’s talking to a spooked rabbit. They inch themselves closer to the two Tonys, and it seems as if Anthony doesn’t notice.

“I’m going to bring everyone back in our world, the ones who got snapped. Going to bring back all of the Steves because you can bring everyone together to fight Thanos.”

“And,” here Anthony smiles. “I’m taking all of us out of the equation. We don’t deserve to hurt anyone anymore.”

Steve exhales. “And you’re taking away the choice of all of the others who could have a choice to fight back?”

“It’s always death and destruction for us. ‘Bringer of Death,’ they all say. I just want the others to have a chance of living a good life, and while I’m still alive, I have to make the difficult decision of choosing the needs of the many over the needs of the few.”

“If you’re gone, then Earth’s best defender will be gone too,” Steven replies.

Anthony shakes his head. “I’m not; you are. You’re the best person to lead them to a better life. You’re perfect for the job.”

“Stop being so self-sacrificing, Tony!” Steven steps forward, pulls his faceplate back, letting Tony see the tears dripping down his face. “If you die, then everything I love is gone!”

“You have Bucky, Steve,” Anthony replies. He shivers, his hand shakes. “I’m not yours, you’ve made that clear. You’ve left me paralyzed on the ground back in the airport and ran off with your best friend, didn’t tell me that Bucky was the one who killed my parents.”

“I’m sorry, Tony.” Steven reaches out, hoping that Anthony would accept his touch.

Anthony’s smile is brittle on his face. “I know you are, but I have to do this. It’s better this way.”

“And take away all the lives that the other Steves could have had with all the Tonys? Look at the man behind me and tell me that you don’t think he’s going to do his best to try to stop you from killing your counterpart. They deserve to have a chance too, to experience what we had.”

Anthony looks over Steven’s shoulder, looking at Steve with tears dripping down his eye. “Please let me do this,” he begs, pleading to Steve.

But Steve shakes his head. “I can’t Tony. You know I can’t. Your Steve is right, I want to have this chance with him, to make the world better, but you need to give me that chance to let me make this right. I love him, and I never got the opportunity to be with him, the way that you had with your Steve, but I’m back now, and I want him.”

“And I’m sorry for leaving you behind,” Steven says. Anthony takes one step forward, then another, pressing his hand into Steven’s palm.

When he collapses, Steven bundles him into his arms. “I’m so sorry for hurting you Tony, but I’m here now, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.” He presses desperate kisses into Anthony’s hair, clinging to a man so lost and distraught.

“I can’t stop the process. I have to finish this, bring everyone back home.” Anthony sobs into Steve’s shoulder.

“Then let me take the burden with you. Leave your other counterparts alone and let our other Steves get the chance we had and we will have together.”

Steven brings his hand up to cradle Anthony’s head, and he presses their lips together. “I love you,” Steven whispers into his lips, the words nearly imperceptible to Steve’s ears. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t come sooner.”

Tears stream down both of their faces, intermingling with each other. “I know, Steve. I know.”

They stand there, clinging to each other, outlined by the golden yellow light, a halo surrounding them as they share their love and promises with each other.

Genesis (Epilogue)

They’re gone, and with them the energy of the stones. In the silence after the fight, all Steve can think about is that they have won. He has saved his Tony from certain death, thanks to the sacrifice of his own counterpart. Steve stumbles forward, his legs no longer supporting him anymore.

_ Thank you _ , he whispers in his mind because he knows that Steven can no longer hear. Yet, there is a slight brush in his brain that startles him. It’s an acknowledgement.

“ _ Gah _ !” Tony inhales noisily, eyes snapping open, his chest heaving as his eyes flicker wildly.

Steve grabs him, holds him down gently. “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Steve says gently, shushing him. As he does so, Tony’s attention snaps to him, and he can see the jaded curiosity on his face, flickering to cautious hope. Tony lifts a hand up, slowly and shakily reaching out to Steve. It’s an end of the past; it’s the beginning of a new future.

The warm pads of his fingers brushes against Steve’s jawbone, burning sparks of pleasure as they trail down. Tony’s eyes widen, face brightening as he realizes that it is indeed Steve there.

“Is this real?” Tony whispers reverently, sitting up. He’s slack-jawed, lifting his fingers off of Steve’s face for a moment. “I’m not dreaming?”

Steve wants to cry. There’s a heaviness in his chest the speaks of untold agony; at the same time, it’s a cry of hope that they can have a future together now that they are both alive.

Steve reaches out, interlacing his fingers between Tony’s. “I’m real. I’m alive,” he says back, squeezing their hands in comfort. He’s wanted it all this time - he has it now.

Tony leans forward, and Steve meets him halfway, pressing their foreheads together. “Do you believe this now?”

There is a sob, and then another one, and Steve pulls back in alarm. But Tony grabs onto him, pulls him forward. “I do,” he says - babbles really. “I do, Steve. God, I’m so sorry.”

And Steve is there, placing a hand upon Tony’s cheek and shushing him gently. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to forgive. I’m glad you’re back and safe.”

“I love you,” Tony chokes out, eyes wild and stunned at the admission. Steve smiles, tears brimming in his eyes. This is his chance - he shouldn’t mess it up this time.

“I should have told you that a long time ago.” Steve finally presses his lips against Tony’s. “I love you too, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that. I have so many apologies that I need to give to you -”

“No you don’t,” Tony interrupts, pulling away just slightly so that he can look into Steve’s eyes. “Don’t apologize. If anything, I need to say ‘sorry’ to you.”

Steve shakes his head. “There’s nothing to be forgiven. I’m just happy, I’m  _ so _ happy that I get another chance with you.” Tears well up in his eyes, and they spill over, relief rushing through his body like a tidal wave. He captures Tony’s lips again, feeling the soft warmth of flesh under him, damp tears streaking down both of their faces.

“I love you, I love you,” Steve murmurs into his mouth, pressing forward so that Tony is leaning back onto the couch and Steve is more or less sprawled over him. He’s dizzy with happiness, clinging to Tony’s shoulders while he feels Tony’s arms wrap around his waist. Tony murmurs his love back, matching word for word as they undulate against each other.

He wants to press closer, closer, make this time a special time, but he breaks away from the kiss when the lack of air becomes too much for him.

“I’m back now,” Tony says, still slightly disbelieving. “I’m back, and you’re alive, and this isn’t a dream.”

Steve smiles. “No, it isn’t. But we can dream about all the time we can have together in the future.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this fic! Comments are greatly appreciated <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for Part of the Journey is the End, But the End is Just Beginning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18934654) by [KakushiMiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KakushiMiko/pseuds/KakushiMiko)




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